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Literary Criticism Medieval

The Politics of Translation in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

edited by Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski, Luise von Flotow & Daniel Russell

Publisher
Les Presses de l'Université d'Ottawa/University of Ottawa Press
Initial publish date
Mar 2001
Category
Medieval
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780776605272
    Publish Date
    Mar 2001
    List Price
    $24.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780776619743
    Publish Date
    Mar 2001
    List Price
    $11.99

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Description

The articles in this collection focus on politics in the widest sense and its influence and visibility in translations from the early Middle Ages to the late Renaissance.
Medievalists and Renaissance scholars discuss the "cultural turn" in translation studies, which approaches translation as an activity that is powerfully affected by its socio-political context and the demands of the translating culture. The links made between culture, politics, and translation in these texts highlight the impact of ideological and political forces on cultural transfer in early European thought. While the personalities of powerful thinkers and translators such as Erasmus, Etienne Dolet, Montaigne, and Leo Africanus play into these texts, historical events and intellectual fashions are equally important: moments such as the Hundred Years War, whose events were partially recorded in translation by Jean Froissart; the Political tussles around the issues of lay readers and rewriters of biblical texts; the theological and philosophical shift from scholasticism to Renaissance relativism; or European relations with the Muslim world add to the interest of these articles.
Throughout this volume, translation is treated as a form of writing, as the production of text and meaning, carried out in a certain cultural and political ambiance, and for identifiable - though not always stated - reasons. No translation, this collection argues, is an innocent, transparent rendering of the original.
Published in English.

About the authors

Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski's profile page

Luise von Flotow is professor and director of the School of Translation and Interpretation at the University of Ottawa.

Luise von Flotow's profile page

Daniel Russell's profile page

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